Noël Coward in “Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story” (2023). Photo provided by the Maine Film Center

Noël Coward, the darling of the British stage and screen for a couple of decades, was like Charlie Chaplin, born poor to the bone, and as Noël would describe it, like a vagrant picking up scraps in the streets of the poor.

MOVIE INFO

“MAD ABOUT THE BOY: THE NOEL COWARD STORY”
Documentary
An exploration of Coward’s expansive career which features credits across the stage and screen, including Brief Encounter, Blithe Spirit, and Private Lives.
Length: 91 minutes
Rating: not rated
Director: Barnaby Thompson
Writer: Barnaby Thompson
Stars: Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Michael Caine

But God, with billions of poor souls pleading him daily, looked around, saw this skinny, unattractive boy in the streets of London, waved his hand, bestowed upon him a potion of talent and sent him on his way — hoping he would know what to do with it. He did.

He took God’s gift and became Noël Coward, writer, actor, musician and definer of British urbanity and erudition.

By the time he was 30, they say Coward was biggest star in world entertainment.

The rest of the title here is “The Noël Coward Story.” Writer, director, actor, songwriter, singer, film director and poet.

The problem with that is that there are a million or two stories about Noël, and the printable ones are here in “Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story,” a documentary feature from director and producer Barnaby Thompson and producer Gregor Cameron. With 2023 the 50th anniversary of Noël Coward’s death, it seems the right moment to look back at his extraordinary life.

At this juncture in our “mad” political and Earth-warming lives, we may ask, do we care? I believe we should.

Noël was part of an era of so-called civility, a world of manners and uncertainly blasted apart by war.

This gifted man, we learn, was a homosexual, a word we’ve softened to “gay.” But everyone in his show business universe wisely ignored it. He was just “clever, funny and brilliant.”

This was a man who, like John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier and Christopher Isherwood (“Berlin Diaries,” which was adapted into “Cabaret”), hid all that away and gave the world stories and songs, music and glamour that made living in their times and ours brighter.

Here in this charming piece, we hear from Noël’s friends Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, playwright Harold Pinter, and performers Frank Sinatra, Lauren Bacall, Michael Caine and, yes, Lucille Ball.

You’re going to learn that Noël also was a minor spy during World War II.

Readers of this piece, unless they’re dedicated film or theater fans, have probably never heard of Coward’s work, including “Private Lives,” “Blithe Spirit,” “Brief Encounter” and “In Which We Serve.” All have the touch of Noël Coward, Prince of Players, court jester of a troubled world.

Noël Coward was a genius of his art, a friend, a gentleman and bright star of darker skies.

“Mad About the Boy: The Noël Coward Story” will play at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17, and at 3 p.m. on Friday, July 19, at the Maine Film Center as part of the Maine International Film Festival.

J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.